Top stories concerning British Isles ancestral research from Irish born Scottish based professional family historian, author and tutor Chris Paton. Feel free to quote from this blog, but please credit British GENES if you do so. Should you wish to get in touch, contact me at christopherpaton @ tiscali.co.uk. Happy hunting!

Over 600 visitors - three times the number that turned up in Preston for the English leg - brought mementoes and stories to share for the project. RTE has a story online showcasing one of them - a helmet that was damaged by shrapnel but which saved a soldier's life at the Somme. To view the story visit http://www.rte.ie/news/av/2012/0321/media-3234751.html. (With thanks to @irishrootsmag on Twitter)